I had the perfect pregnancy. My husband and I decided to have a baby the month of our second anniversary. I found out mid-November that we were expecting. My conception date was the day before our anniversary and my due date was July 2, 2000. I was a little queasy at first, but I thought I had a touch of the flu. I spotted at six weeks but was reassured by my OB/GYN that I was not going to miscarry. I passed out once while at work. That scared me, but I was told that it was normal. When I look back I wonder if I was being given signs of my little guy getting ready to come.

At 19 weeks gestation, I started leaking colostrum. It wasn't much but enough that I had to wear nursing pads. At 25 weeks, I had my ultrasound that showed VERY clearly that we were expecting a boy. We were so excited. I was getting bigger and bigger. I was one of those people that gains weight only in her belly. I was asked often if I was due soon. I remember one person asking if I was having labor pains. I told him I still had two more months and he was shocked.

On May 16, 2000, I had to work overtime. My boss wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world. My job required that I stand all day and lean over a table. Not the best job for a pregnant woman. After I finally got off of work, I went to my mother's house. My little brother was tickling my feet and I kept screaming for him to stop before he put me into labor. That night, my husband and I got a little frisky. We tried to have sex but I was very uncomfortable. I was very upset and crying. I left our room to go to the bathroom and when I cleaned myself there was a lot of blood. I, of course, started crying harder. I called my husband in and we decided to page the on-call doctor. He called back immediately. I explain what happened and he said 90 percent of the time it is nothing. I asked if I should go to the hospital since I was only 33 weeks and he said to go if it made me feel better. Of course it would!

We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 p.m. I didn't take anything. I thought they would look and say go home, one hour, tops. They put me in an observation room and put on the external fetal monitor and left the room. One hour later the nurse came and asked if I was having any pain. I wasn't and asked why. She said I was having regular contractions. Oh no, I said. They are just Braxton Hicks. She decided to check me and while she was feeling around, she pushed the nurse button and asked another nurse to come in. I asked what was wrong and she said she felt something. The other nurse took her turn and said that I was dilated to 4 centimeters and my bag of waters was bulging.

They immediately put an IV of magnesium sulfate in and told me not to move. That stuff is terrible. I was so hot that they got a fan for me. My husband was wrapped up in a blanket. The nurses wouldn't let me go to the toilet and they wouldn't check me for fear that they would break the bag of waters. After 12 hours of magnesium sulfate, the doctor decided that it wasn't working and to let me have the baby. They had already given me one steroid shot to mature the baby's lungs and would give me another after 12 hours. The doctor did another internal exam and said he could feel something and was afraid it was the placenta or cord. Either would mean a Cesarean Section.

The ultrasound tech was asked to come to me since I couldn't get out of bed. He was not pleased when he finally arrived. I asked how big the baby was and he told me rudely that he would have to do all sorts of measurements to tell me that. The doctor said to expect 3.5 to 4 pounds. The ultrasound showed nothing out of the ordinary so they moved me to a birthing suite. Luckily, after I moved, the nurse was nice and let me go to the toilet rather than the bedpan. Making yourself wet the bed is hard to do even if there is something to catch it.

I continued to have contractions all day and the only time I felt anything was when my bladder was full. They were continuously pumping IV fluid into me so I looked so swollen. I had visitors all day (too many). My boss had told everybody that I was in premature labor so they called and came all day. Also my husband's best friends came. They are really loud and obnoxious. I was embarrassed every time the doctor or nurse came in.

That night I went on my first walk since being admitted. It was now 24 hours later. I didn't walk far because I think the baby had dropped. At 8 p.m., the nurse finally let me eat since it was taking so long. At 11 p.m., I was dilated to 8 centimeters and still had no pain. The doctor gave orders to give me a sleeping pill since I hadn't slept at all since my arrival. I slept until 3:30 a.m. and woke up not knowing where I was. I was totally lost. I had a little pain in my stomach and remembered what was going on. I thought I just had to go to the bathroom so I called the nurse and went in. It didn't help the pain this time, so I knew it was getting close.

The nurse checked me and I had gone down to 7 centimeters. At 5:30 or 6 a.m., they called the doctor and asked if I wanted an epidural. I was having pain but not too much. My mom said I was breathing through it but I don't remember it being that bad. I told the nurse to ask me later. She said it was now or never. I didn't know if I needed one so I asked if the pain was going to get worse. That must have been a stupid question because my mom and nurse just started laughing, which scared me, so I said I wanted one. Five minutes later I was being numbed. I started pushing soon after.

I had a lot of people in my room including me of course, my husband, my doctor and nurse, a pediatrician, two NICU nurses and the epidural doctor. I couldn't feel anything again and had to watch the monitor to see when to push. After about 30-45 minutes, my perfect little boy was born into this world. The doctor put him on my belly long enough for my husband to cut the cord. He was so perfect. My husband's first words after he saw him were, He's big! I thought he was tiny. The pediatrician took him quickly and started to see how he was. He was screaming, I was crying, and my husband was laughing. It was great. The nurses let me hold him again for about 30 seconds and then ran out the door with him to take him to the NICU.

After 30 plus hours of labor, Jaden Douglas Palmer was born on May 18, 2000 weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces. That is much bigger than we expected. I was taken to my room and me and Doug slept. Jaden had to be on oxygen for about an hour, but after that, he was doing well. When I was able to go see him, it was three hours later. He was hooked up to the machines to monitor his oxygen, heart rate, and his respiration. They let us hold him for about 15 minutes.

That day, the lactation specialist came and taught me how to pump. I had to supply the milk for the nurses since I couldn't nurse him. Since I started leaking colostrum so early, it flowed quickly. That night, we gave him his first bottle. He drank it very fast, which delighted me, but the nurses said it was common for a preemie to get very tired and stop sucking. The next night Jaden had a nasogastric tube giving him his feedings. He soon developed jaundice, which lasted about a week. The nurses were great. They taught us how to care for him and let us do the work. I only had one nurse that almost didn't live through the night after she was so rude to us. Every third feeding I was able to give Jaden a nipple feeding. Usually it came from the bottle, but we worked on the breast. The pediatrician was amazing. He was there every morning and if I missed him he would call me at home.

The worst thing in the world was leaving Jaden at the hospital when I went home. My husband and I didn't say anything on the ride. We had to go to the store since we were so unprepared. Right when we walked in the door, I ran into somebody I knew and he said, Hey, I heard you are going to have a baby. Talk about a bad time to say that.

After 10 days, Jaden was able to go home with us. He weighed 5 pounds even. He started eating the day before and he still hasn't slowed down. He is now a very active and chubby 1-year-old. I was told to expect delays but he already knows a lot of words and is able to communicate verbally what he wants.

The advice I have for expectant parents is to be prepared for anything and don't be afraid to speak up if you feel uncomfortable about something. I feel that one reason Jaden had to have the ng tube is because one nurse thought he was being funny by adding extra milk to his bottles during his nighttime feedings. I felt very uncomfortable but didn't say anything. Remember that is your child and you have a right to his/her care. Thanks for listening to my long story. I love to reminisce. Good luck to all of you and thank you for sharing your stories.